More Book Recommendations

[Steve]

As you know I bought some books recently at a bookstore
that was closing out, and the books I bought turned out
to be a treasure trove.

The first -

"The Last Days of Summer" by Steve Kluger

I have already written about it -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/31423

Definitely a fun and funny book that despite some course
language could be enjoyed by anyone 13 and older.


Next we have -

"Toast" By Nigel Slater

"Toast" is an autobiographical book where the life of a 
boy as he grows into a man is told in the framework of the
nostalgic foods that permeated his life.

Here is an excerpt that I found touching -

"It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for
you. People's failings, even major ones such as when they
make you wear short trousers to school, fall into 
insignificants as your teeth break through the rough,
toasted crust and sink into the doughy cushion of white
bread underneath. Once the warm, salty butter has hit
your tongue, you are smitten. Putty in their hands."

The book is a bit brawdy in spots, so I wouldn't recommend
it to any below later teenage. Still, it is a wonderfully 
captivating story, and a reminder that the best spice for
any food is a heaping helping of nostalgia.


"Millions" by Frank Cottrell Boyce

This book was made into a movie by the same name, if you
haven't seen the movie, and you would like to see a good
heartwarming film about family life, this is it.

The book is even better than the movie and a fun read for
all ages. 

A young boy who is obssessed with Saints, and his father
and brother move to a new house after the death of the 
mother. The father stresses to his boys that they need
to be 'excellent' and Damian takes the idea a little 
too literally. 

Using the old boxes from their move, he builds himself
a saintly hermitage, just beyond the shrubs that hide 
his neighborhood from the railroad tracks. One night
after offerring a short prayer in the name of his 
mother, and as a train is rumbling past, something 
lands on his hermitage crushing it. He discovers that
it is a very large bag filled with money. 

Yes, that might sound a little hokey, but the characters
especially the boys, really make the concept work. This
book has been around for a long time, so I'm sure you 
can by it cheap or borrow it from a library. It makes
for a very pleasant and enjoyable read.


Finally -

"The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly
($16 Amazon, $14 Walmart)

>From the jacket cover -

"High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns
the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only
the books on his shelf for company. But those books have
begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes
refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and 
fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart
around him, David is violently propelled into a land that
is a reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and
monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his 
secrets in a mysterious book ... 'The Book of Lost Things'."

This is a wonderful book for anyone of any age. It is at
once a heartwarming and heartbreaking family story, but 
also is a fairytale, an epic adventure, a heroes quest, 
a coming of age, and more. 

Note this book is not marketed to young readers, though
it is appropraite for most. There are a couple of very
vague references to sex, but only in the form of what
parents do late at night when they think their kids are
sleeping. I'm sure any normal kid age 10 or older will
be able to read it and keep it in perspective. For more
naive kids under 10, the parent may want to read it 
first. Though, I must say, parents should read it in
any case, as they will certainly enjoy it.

As I read, I was sure I could predict where the book was 
going and how it would end, and to a limited extent I was
right, but the last chapters also held many revelations 
that I had not and could not have predicted. In some 
sense, this is a very melancholy story, but in another 
sense, it is the story of all stories, just as any great
story should be.

Here is a excerpt for the book that I found especially 
touching -

"Before she became ill, David's mother would often tell
him that stories were alive. They weren't alive in the 
way that people were alive, or even dogs and cats. People
were alive whether you chose to notice them or not, while
dogs tended to make you notice them if they decided that 
you weren't paying them enough attention. Cats, meanwhile,
were very good at pretending people didn't exist at all 
when it suited them, but that was another matter entirely."

"Stories were different, though: they came alive in the
telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a
pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath
the blankets, they had no real existence in our world.
They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting
to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a 
sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music 
into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to 
emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could
begin to change. They could take root in the imagination,
and transform the reader. Stories /wanted/ to be read,
David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was
the reason they forced themselves from their world into
ours. They wanted us to give them life."

If you can relate to that, then you have grasped the 
heart of this story. 

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn